How to Make a World of Difference—Without Leaving Home

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"It's very exciting to work with young people who are at that age
when everything is still a possibility," says Juliette Wiles, 53, a
volunteer mentor for teens. She spends several hours each week discussing books
with her mentees, critiquing their writing, or offering encouragement as they
complete activities designed to get them thinking about what drives them in
life and where they want to be in five or 10 years. She helps them define their
goals and research college and career options. She does all this through a
website called icouldbe.org—while
sitting in front of her computer.

"My own children are grown now and I miss that interaction on a daily
basis with younger people and their friends. This is a nice way to tap back
into that energy," she says. While all of her discussions with mentees
take place online, Wiles feels that doesn't make the experiences any less
personal. "After I've worked with the teens for a little while,"
she says, "I get the same sense of their personalities as I would if I
were sitting right across from them."

Did you know you can…

 raise puppies that will be trained to be guide dogs for the
blind

 help improve the lives of visually impaired and hearing-impaired
children in developing countries

Wiles is one of thousands of "virtual volunteers" who are helping
nonprofits in their communities and around the world right from their home or
office. They work on their own schedule, at any time of day or night that is
convenient for them, editing or translating documents, writing newsletters,
designing graphics, doing research, building websites, creating databases, or
offering advice and support. Although much of this work is computer-related and
requires Web and email access, the less technologically inclined can also find
rewarding "offline" at-home volunteer opportunities, like knitting
blankets for people in need or counting birds at your backyard feeder for a
scientific census. The term "virtual volunteering" refers not just to
computer-based tasks, but to all kinds of remote volunteering.

Jason Willett, the director of communications for VolunteerMatch, an online database of
volunteer jobs, says the number of virtual assignments is increasing
dramatically. In 2005 volunteers matched themselves to nearly 40,000 remote
opportunities on Volunteermatch.org, compared with 3,000 in 1998, the year the
site debuted. "Organizations are realizing they can move opportunities
into the virtual realm—such as mentoring or fundraising—and get
more people volunteering regardless of location," he says. "They can
save space in-house, which may make room for an additional staff person or
volunteer, and they can take advantage of skills and resources that may not be
available in their own community."

Wiles had volunteered in the past in a face-to-face mentoring program, but
she says she loves online mentoring because she doesn't need to spend time
traveling back and forth to a school so "every second I spend directly
benefits the kids. It makes the experience richer, because you have the time to
bring up a new topic and get into a greater level of detail."

She works in Menlo Park, California, as a senior editor for E*TRADE
FINANCIAL. Her employer has partnered with icouldbe.org and encourages her to
spend some of her workweek doing online mentoring activities (although she also
participates from home). icouldbe.org recruits teens through schools,
after-school programs, and through cooperation with MTV. Volunteer mentors fill
out an application, which takes about an hour, and icouldbe.org does background
checks on them to ensure the mentees' safety.

High school students can see Wiles's bio on the site and send her a
message if they are considering a career in writing or communications.
"One of my mentees is interested in stage design and drama but he had
never considered the idea that there were colleges where you could study stage
design," she says. "So I researched schools and sent him some
resources, which was fun because I'm very interested in theater
myself." Wiles also worked on finding scholarships for another student to
attend a summer camp for computer game design.

"As a mentor, you really grow to feel affection for the kids you work
with—their view on the world is so fresh and optimistic even under some
of the most trying of circumstances," she says. "Many of these kids
don't have the resources to do these things on their own or they don't
have the support at home. But you can feel it when a light bulb goes on and
that's rewarding."

The following four virtual volunteers have also found creative ways to share
their skills and get involved with causes that really matter to them. And
they're able to donate more time and energy because they can do just about
all of their volunteer work from their home or workplace.

Photo by Nicole Wolf

A Global Neighbor

Oscar H. Blayton, Attorney, 60, Williamsburg, Virginia

Oscar Blayton is a lawyer who has both worked and volunteered for 30 years
for nonprofit organizations, but he says he has never before seen a group that
accomplishes its mission as efficiently as Nabuur.com. On the site, Blayton and more than
2,800 other volunteers from around the world—called
"neighbours"—register and join in online discussions with
people from communities—called "villages"—in developing
countries. Each community appoints a representative who speaks on its behalf
and posts weekly updates on what's going on in the town. A trained
volunteer facilitator coordinates the efforts of the neighbours and ensures
that online discussions are productive, while the neighbours help solve the
problems of the villages and direct them towards useful resources.

Blayton says that Nabuur.com gives people who might not be able to volunteer
on-site in places like South America (because of financial, time, or health
constraints) a way to contribute. He spends about an hour each day either
posting messages on the website or executing tasks such as writing to friends
at embassies in Washington, D.C., to ask them to assist with Nabuur projects.
Recently, he started working with a group in the Moroccan village of Imhilen.
"They want to get a children's library started with literature about
their culture, so we got books contributed by contacting Amazigh organizations
around the world," Blayton says.

He has also helped work out the tax implications of a donation to ship
computers to the village of Oyoko in Ghana. "This site brings people
together from great distances. A neighbour in the Czech Republic found those
computers for Oyoko and someone in the U.S. offered to help pay to ship
them," he says. "The greatest inspiration is seeing what people can
do when they combine to get something done."

Photo By Carl Posey

A Friend to Animals

Effie French, Retired Educational Psychologist, 70, New York City

Effie French fell in love with kittens and cats when she was growing up in
Greece. She lives in New York City now, and she can't keep a pet because
she spends three and a half months each year in Europe. Instead, she fosters
cats for the American Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals. "It's a great solution for me to be able to
help and also have a pet in the house—it's a temporary member of your
family," she says.

For periods ranging from one to eight months, French takes home cats from
the ASPCA's shelter who are sick, pregnant, or have behavioral problems.
"They heal faster and they become delightful, outgoing pets. It gives them
a chance to be adopted into permanent homes," she explains. The ASPCA
provides food, cat litter, medicine, and other supplies, as well as veterinary
care at their clinic. French has cared for cats with broken legs, cataracts,
and one that gave birth to five kittens in her apartment.

When she returns them to the ASPCA, she writes a resume for each cat that is
given to the people that are interested in adopting it. "The separation is
painful, but it eases your pain to know how much pleasure the cat will give to
the family that adopts it, and that the cat is saved."

A Phone Call Away

Bill (last name withheld by request), Retired Nurse, 67, West Trenton, New
Jersey

Every day of the year, Bill, a volunteer with the Reassurance program of the
organization Contact of Mercer
County (New Jersey), calls several elderly, homebound people in his town
who live alone. He checks in on them to make sure they are safe. "As long
as they answer the phone and are okay, I'm happy," he says. "And
if they want to chat, I can chat with them." If they don't respond
(and the organization hasn't been notified that they are away), Bill calls
their family members, friends, the security office at their apartment building,
or—if necessary—the police, to stop by and see if they are in
trouble.

Bill maintains that the program not only makes people feel less vulnerable
but also helps with their loneliness. "These folks are very responsive and
friendly, and I believe that they appreciate the calls," he says.

Ever since Evelyn Carson started crocheting baby blankets for her first
child 50 years ago, she's been creating colorful handmade afghans and
quilts for friends and family members. But that's not all. Ten years ago,
she saw a notice in her local newspaper about Warm Up America!, an organization that collects
afghans and donates them to charitable agencies that serve the homeless,
battered women, victims of disasters, and other people in need. Now Carson
spends at least 1,500 hours a year crocheting blankets for the group.

Much of her work involves connecting the squares that other volunteers have
sent in and joining those sections into finished afghans. She works at home in
her den, then delivers the completed blankets to the local office of the Craft
Yarn Council of America, a key partner of Warm Up America! that provides
shipping and other support. The blankets are sent to Red Cross chapters all over the United States and to other organizations.

Carson says that a lot of blankets are needed in the colder northern states,
where they are given to the homeless or to people when their house burns down.
"I think of the people that lose everything and they have to run out in
their pajamas on a cold night and the Red Cross comes and gives them a
blanket," she says. Evelyn continues to work tirelessly, since she knows
more afghans are needed this year.

"I honestly believe that I saw one of my blankets on the news when
Clinton and Bush were in New Orleans after the hurricane—I saw it in the
big auditorium on one of the beds!" she says.